“Let’s be clear-- these are spills from manure pits on factory farms, and calling them “manure runoffs” is a weak attempt to minimize the impact of factory farm manure in our rivers, streams and drinking water supplies.

“Such scapegoating only gives factory farms more leeway to keep polluting under the radar. What we really need is a moratorium on factory farms but in the meantime, the very least DNR can do is hold them accountable and be transparent about the risks posed by factory farm manure.

“Iowa has over 750 impaired waterways. The vast majority of those impairments are due to impacts from industrialized agriculture. Despite this growing water crisis, our state legislature once again failed to take any meaningful action during the 2019 session, and in fact, refused to even debate a bill proposing a moratorium on new and expanding factory farms. Our water crisis grows more significant every year, and it will only worsen as climate change makes extreme weather events and heavy rainfall more likely. The DNR taking minor enforcement action against polluting factory farms will not solve this crisis -- only the legislature can do that by taking meaningful action on our factory farm problem. This newest round of manure spills is yet another reason why it’s time for a moratorium on factory farms.”

Food & Water Watch mobilizes regular people to build political power to move bold & uncompromised solutions to the most pressing food, water, and climate problems of our time. We work to protect people’s health, communities, and democracy from the growing destructive power of the most powerful economic interests.